Lenten Devotions: March 15, 2014

March 15, 2014                      Psalm 121

Saturday                                  Isaiah 51:4-8

                                                Luke 7:1-10

 

 

Being the Beloved (from Life of the Beloved)

Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

 

Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence.  I am putting this so directly and so simply because, though the experience of being the Beloved has never been completely absent from my life, I never claimed it as my core truth.  I kept running around it in large and small circles, always looking for someone or something able to convince me of my Belovedness.  It was as if I kept refusing to hear the voice that speaks from the very depth of my being and says, “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests.”  That voice has always been there, but it seems that I was much more eager to listen to other, louder voices saying: “Prove that you are worth something; do something relevant, spectacular or powerful, and then you will earn the love you so desire.”  Meanwhile the soft, gentle voice that speaks in the silence and solitude of my heart remained unheard or, at least unconvincing…

 

Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply.  It is like discovering a well in the desert.  Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper.